Tag Archives: Stephen King

Don’t confuse Point of View w/ things that have nothing to do with POV: writing in past or present tense, using flashbacks or foreshadowing, good character development or realistic dialogue. None of those is POV & POV is not concerned w/ those separate writing issues #WritingTipspic.twitter.com/XlheSGvV9c

Don’t confuse literary Point of View with people expressing different opinions in real life. In writing, different characters’ views of the same events is Perspective, not POV. Point of View is HOW something is written, and there are very few POVs in writing. #WritingTips

Don’t confuse POV with how emotionally connected (or distant) your readers feel to your characters. If you have character development, your readers will get attached to your characters no matter what POV you’ve written the book in, as evidenced by many classics. #WritingTips

Don’t confuse POV with how emotionally connected (or distant) your readers feel to your characters. If you have character development, your readers will get attached to your characters no matter what POV you’ve written the book in, as evidenced by many classics. #WritingTips

First Person POV, in grammatical 1st person (I, we). The only POV with a narrator. Everything in the story is LIMITED to what the narrator thinks, feels, etc and what s/he can observe about other characters’ actions/behavior. Narrators can be reliable or unreliable. #WritingTips

Inner Limited POV, in grammatical 3rd person (he, she, it, they). LIMITED to the INNER life (thoughts, feelings, motivations) of ONE character (or 1 character at a time, different sections). Similar to First Person POV limitations but creates more emotional distance. #WritingTips

Second Person POV, in grammatical 2nd person (you), directly addresses a “you” but NOT in dialogue. The default audience for “you” is the reading audience, and it is always up to the author to make it clear who is being directly addressed if it is NOT the readers. #WritingTips

Outer Limited Point of View, written in the grammatical 3rd person (he, she, it, they), is LIMITED to the OUTER life of ALL the characters in the story. Sometimes called the “camera” or “fly on the wall” POV. The most challenging POV for any author to master. #WritingTips

Outer Limited POV only reveals the external, observable behaviors of ALL the characters in the work. NO thoughts, feelings, motivations, or memories are revealed to readers unless they are expressed in dialogue, letters, etc to other characters at the same time. #WritingTips

To write in Multiple Points of View, you must know the difference between Perspective and Point of View in literature and writing. Point of View is HOW something is written. Perspective gives different views or versions of the events in story. Perspective is not POV #WritingTips

If you have 3 different characters telling their version of the story, each in a different section, each operating as a narrator, i.e., in First Person POV (written in grammatical 1st person: I, we), you have ONE POV in book, but 3 different Perspectives of events. #WritingTips

Epistolary novels, in which all characters communicate through letters, present the story through several characters’ letters to each other, each writing in First Person POV, with each letter writer as narrator while reader is reading his/her letter. That is ONE POV #WritingTips

If your narrator finds a diary of some ancient relative and reads the story of the diary writer’s life, in which the diary writer is the narrator of that life, both sections are written in First Person POV. It is not Multiple POVs. #WritingTips

To write in Multiple POVs, you must change HOW the work is written. You must use more than one POV (e.g., First Person and Inner Limited, First Person and Second Person, First Person and Unlimited, First Person and Second Person and Unlimited, etc). #WritingTips

If you choose to write in Multiple Points of View, you must have a good reason for it, & each different POV must be successfully written or your readers will think you don’t know what you’re doing. Readers are very sophisticated: they know when you make mistakes #WritingTips

To successfully write in Multiple POVs, you should first read books that successfully use Multiple POVs. Faulkner’s The Sound and the Fury, for instance, has 3 First Person POV sections followed by a section in Unlimited POV = multiple Perspectives AND Multiple POVs #WritingTips

Crime fiction often has Multiple POVs. Inner Limited POV (he, she, it, they) is LIMITED to INNER life of 1 character, creating emotional distance. Crime writers use this POV for victims or killers or both, and use Unlimited POV or First Person POV for protagonist(s). #WritingTips

Tammy Hoag very skillfully uses Inner Limited POV for criminals/killers and for their victims, each in a separate chapter so readers do not get confused, and Unlimited POV for the crime fighters and investigators in Ashes to Ashes. #WritingTips

Crime writer Anne Frasier does the unexpected in her novel Play Dead, using Inner Limited POV for crime fighters (not First Person POV), anyone related to crime fights, & victims. She uses First Person POV for a serial killer, making that Perspective more “intimate.”#WritingTips

Despite the myth of “you can’t use more than one POV in a book,” Multiple POVs have been successfully used by many authors in many genres since fiction writing began. You can write in as many POVs as you wish in the same work, as long as you make all clear to readers #WritingTips

Remember that if you are using more than one POV, you must make it clear to your readers what you are doing and WHY you are doing it. Separate sections with different POVs or otherwise make it very clear to readers that you are changing POV.#WritingTips

Lapsing from chosen POV = author unintentionally makes mistake. Hemingway, who often wrote in Outer Limited (he called it “fly on the wall”) occasionally lapses e.g., writing “He saw the train” since that POV cannot reveal what characters see, only what they say/do. #WritingTips

Patricia Cornwell often lapses from First Person POV in the Kay Scarpetta novels: whenever Cornwell as the author tells readers something that ALL the characters already know, e.g., the meaning of VICAP, she lapses from her chosen POV. #WritingTips

If you use Multiple POVs, readers must feel that the work is enriched by these different POVs. They should not be confused and wonder what on earth you are doing. They may wonder why you changed POVs, but, if it’s well written, they should be able to figure out WHY. #WritingTips

An author CHOOSES which Point of View s/he wishes to write in. Only Unlimited POV has NO limitations to the information an author provides to readers. All other POVs are limited in some way. By choosing a POV other than Unlimited, an author agrees to its limitations. #WritngTips

All writing has POV, no matter the type — poetry, fiction, nonfiction — or genre within each type — fantasy, science fiction, literary, romance, action/adventure, etc — and you should be aware of POV itself AND of most common POV in the type/genre you’re writing. #WritingTips

Although all types and genres of writing are done in all the various POVs, some POVs show up more regularly in certain genres, e.g., Unlimited in historical fiction or science fiction since the author must give readers more information the characters already know. #WritingTips

If you choose to write your work in a POV that is not expected in that type/genre, your readers will be automatically “on guard” because you have gone against their expectations: you must be doubly sure that your chosen POV is done carefully AND successfully. #WritingTips

Any time you write in Multiple POVs, you are challenging your readers to both read the story AND to notice HOW the story is written. Multiple POVs challenge readers: it forces them to be more conscious of its artistry. They can’t skim or watch TV while reading.#WritingTips

If you write in Multiple POVs, readers are forced to be more conscious of HOW you are writing the story. Conscious readers are more “critical” readers: if you lapse from your POV, they’ll know it. If you confuse readers, they’ll be annoyed & leave bad reviews. #WritingTips

If you want to write a work in Multiple POVs, make sure you have mastered each individual POV before attempting to combine them. Some POVs are naturally easier than others (Unlimited, First Person, Second Person) and some are dreadfully challenging (Outer Limited). #WritingTips

If you want to write in Multiple POVs, you need to be hyperconscious of the LIMITATIONS of each individual POV since all POVs are LIMITED in some way except for Unlimited POV, hence its name. #WritingTips

Never assume you know more about POV than your readers: there are many writers, authors, critics, literature majors & professors who read books in many genres & these people know POV. If you use Multiple POVs, they’ll certainly know what you’re doing right AND wrong. #WritingTips

Want no limits whatsoever to the information you present to your readers, including all characters’ thoughts, feelings, motivations, as well as your own moral judgments on all your characters? Then you want Unlimited Point of View. https://t.co/3kO8aslkUb

Want a narrator to tell the story? You want First Person Point of View, which limits all the information in the story to narrator’s internal life (thoughts, feelings, etc) and to what the narrator can observe of other characters’ actions. #WritingTipshttps://t.co/pPSstrcf6r …

Want to limit the story to the inner life of one character (or one character at a time, in different sections)? Want more emotional distance between readers and character than First Person POV provides? You want Inner Limited POV. #WritingTipshttps://t.co/Hl9IKxDP5u

Want to address the readers (or someone else who is external to the story) directly, or want the narrator to address someone (in or out of the story) directly and NOT in dialogue? Then you want Second Person POV, even if it’s only temporarily. #WritingTipshttps://t.co/2Ye2xVURlF

Want to pretend you’re behind a camera filming your characters without VoiceOver, never showing any of their inner lives, and limiting everything to what can be observed or heard? You want Outer Limited POV, the most challenging POV.#WritingTipshttps://t.co/56E7PLOFUG

Want to grow artistically or use other POVs in order to get over writer’s block or determine which POV would best suit your work? You want to try multiple POVs, making sure you master each individual POV before you try combining them. Good luck and Happy Writing! #WritingTips

Okay, so I was gonna go all classical on you by proving that I could name the 7 Wonders of the Ancient World, but I couldn’t find any pictures of them because they’ve all been destroyed. Except for the Great Pyramids at Giza. So then I thought I’d do the 7 Wonders of the Modern World, but there are so many disagreements, it’d be like going to a family reunion and listening to great-aunts and uncles argue about what happened to you when you were three: You did not cross the Golden Gate Bridge; you went up the Empire State Building. I wanted to take you to see the Giant Statue of Jesus in Brazil, but your mother wanted you to see the Great Wall of China, while your father — God love him — wanted you to see the Panama Canal. (And, yes, those are some of the items actually considered to be Wonders of the Modern world.) Instead, I decided to do something I found a lot more interesting: the 7 Wonders of the Horror Movie World.

I have always loved scary movies, I grew up on all the Hammer Studio classics with Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee, I loved anything with Vincent Price because it was usually based on something by Edgar Allan Poe, and I didn’t even care about the special effects. Who cared if you could see the shadow of the fishing pole holding the “bat” that was flying around the room, terrorizing the beautifully made-up and costumed tourists (all with really big hair!). I was in a darkened theatre with my siblings and lots of other kids whose parents had dropped them off to get them out of the house for a while, being scared out of our wits, and I loved it.

Of course, I laugh at most of those movies now, though I appreciate what they were doing at the time. Now my horror movies have to have something different to scare me, something that could really happen, or some new twist on the paranormal. And I have to want to watch it over and over, even though I already know the story. That’s one of the reasons I love October so much: watching all the horror movies while waiting for Halloween. But I’ll watch a good horror movie any day.

And by “good,” I don’t mean a bunch of stupid teens in some isolated area screaming while running in high heels (girls) or bare feet (boys) while a killer with a dangerous implement (fill in the blank) chases them down till he finally catches them and hacks them into pieces.

Here then, from #7 to #1, are my picks for the Top 7 Wonders of the Horror Movie World.

♦

#7
Psycho

And I’m talking Hitchcock’s original here, which was ground-breaking even if it was only because he killed off his leading lady, who happened to be a big Hollywood star, less than halfway through the film. Then again, maybe it was that atmospheric music, if you could call it “music.” It didn’t have anything to do with the fact that my little sister and I watched it on the sofa-couch when we were 6 & 7, respectively, while “babysitting” our baby brother.

Yeah, we were scared. Long before we ever found out about Norman Bates’ mother, too. I still find it fantastically creepy. And that Shower Scene. Janet Leigh claims she could never take a shower afterward and feel quite safe enough. I hear you, Janet.

To tell you the truth, I don’t even know what “the shining” in the movie (or the novel of the same name) is. And I know fans complain that the Kubrick version is nothing like the Stephen King novel on which it was based. But there’s something terrifying about the entire concept: being stuck, without rescue, in an isolated place, with a husband who’s slowly and obviously going violently insane. Now that’s horror for me, if only because it could really happen.

And I love Jack Nicholson, even before he gets to the iconic — and ad-libbed — “Here’s Johnny” scene. The typewriter tantrum is just a taste of the scary to come.

♦

#5Sleepy Hollow

Tim Burton makes some weird movies, I admit, but he also makes some fine ones. This is one of my favorites. It has big stars — Michael Gambon, Miranda Richardson, Christina Ricci, Johnny Depp, and Christopher Walken. It has atmosphere. It has good special effects, especially since Burton doesn’t overdo it on the gadgetry stuff he likes. Depp’s performance as the fainting-under-stress detective Ichabod Crane investigating the murders in upstate New York is a funny but seriously interesting take on the original Washington Irving story. But Walken as the Headless Horseman can not be beat. Even when he has no head.

In interviews, Walken claimed the director instructed propmen to hold lights under his chin, shining them upward, to “make him look scarier.” Walken told him, “Get those d***d lights out of my face. I can make myself look scary without any help from them.” And he proved true to his word. He’s at some of his scariest in the Death of the Hessian scene.

♦

#4Orphan

We found this film totally by accident one night, and within a few minutes we were hooked. I could only find the trailer since the film is only a few years old, but I doubt I could show you any scenes that wouldn’t give away the frightening premise and revelation at the finale. You know the main idea: parents longing for another child and also to do good in the world — no, not Angelina and Brad — adopt an older, unwanted orphan from another country — in this case, Russia — and bring her home to the good life in America. Where, of course, things start to go wrong. But not in any way you’d ever guess.

Though the earnings at the box-office were mixed, Orphan was a prize-winner in several Independent Film Festivals, and Isabelle Fuhrman as the orphan Esther was universally acclaimed.

A great twist on the age-old vampire story, a prize-winning entry in Independent Film Festivals, based on the Swedish version of the film and directed by the same person. I can’t even tell you anything about it without doing the Spoiler Alert thing. Suffice it to say that it starts out with two lonely and outcast kids who begin a tentative friendship while scary, gruesome murders are being committed in their neighborhood.

Some viewers like the Swedish version — Let the Right One In — better, some the American. I don’t usually like to read my films, so I’m guessing I’d prefer this one. The performances by the child-actors are great, and the ending of Let Me In is completely unexpected.

Okay, so the lit-tra-chure purists complain that this isn’t really like Henry James’ novella The Turn of the Screw, on which it’s based, where two young children in a governess’ care claim to see ghosts. Or the governess claims that the children told her they see ghosts and that she has to protect her wards from the supernatural beings, depending on your interpretation of the governess’ reliability. Some film buffs prefer the 1956 Deborah Kerr version of The Innocents, if only because they say it’s closer to the James’ book. For my money, give me Nicole Kidman and the stunning child actors in this version. You have to watch it a second time to see all the clues you missed the first time. And you’ll probably be willing to do it right away, it’s that good.

Set in a brooding old estate right after World War II, where wife (Nicole) and children are patiently and worriedly waiting for Daddy to come home from the War, while being looked after by a trio of servants who “come with the place.” The Others is so close to #1, I had to flip a coin (not really… well, okay, only a couple times).

There is no doubt that this is one of the greatest film versions of the classic vampire story. Surrounded by a short set-story explaining Dracula’s and Mina’s psychic and emotional “connection”, the rest of the film is pretty loyal to the novel, even showing the characters writing their letters, receiving telegrams, and typing their diaries/journals, which is how the book is presented. Great performances by all, including Sir Anthony Hopkins, Keanu Reeves, Winona Ryder, Cary Elwes, etc.

But no one, and I most emphatically repeat, no one can out-do Gary Oldman’s spooky, eerie, sexy (yes!), scary, totally believable turn as Count Dracula, or as he’s known to Mina, Prince Vlad. And I ain’t talking about the special effects here because director Francis Ford Coppola went old-school and refused to use computer graphics anywhere in the film (and added the author’s name to the title of the film so it wouldn’t be confused with any other Hollywood version).

I’m not talking the brilliant costumes, hairdressing, wigs, and makeup on Oldman either. I’m not talking about his accents — he claims to have used a different accent or dialect for every film he’s made, and that none has ever been his own natural dialect — which change, consistently, in Bram Stoker’s Dracula whenever he needs them to. He even learned an old dialect of Transylvanian for the set-story which begins the film and appears before the credits.

I’m talking about Gary Oldman, in what should have been an Oscar-winning performance. He rocks as Dracula (sorry, Christoper Lee: you know I loved you when I was a kid.) Oldman is so good, that I’ll even watch this one with commercials, though of course, they leave some of the coolest stuff out.

The best horror movie of all time, and included high (usually in the top 10) in the lists of most “Best Horror Movie” compilations: Bram Stoker’s Dracula.

♦

Somebody who knows me already asked why I didn’t include The Prophecy (1, 2, and 3), with Christopher Walken as a kick-ass Archangel Gabriel come down to steal someone’s soul to help with the War in Heaven. I love that movie. Seen it dozens of times. But there’s so much humor, especially with the scenes including Amanda Plummer, Adam Goldberg, and Walken, that I don’t even know if it, technically, classifies as horror. So, I left it out.

What say you, my Lovelies? Any of your favorite horror films that should have made it on this list? Let me know, in spooky comments.

So many Indie & self-published authors long for a traditional publishing contract that I thought I’d put some of the pro’s & con’s of each, having been in both worlds for the last 30+ years, with books of all genres (but still considered literary fiction: by different genres, I mean novels, short fiction, poetry, and non-fiction / creative writing).

Traditional Publishing

Pros

The author doesn’t pay for the cover, the design, the production costs, etc.

The agent does the work of finding the right editor for the work

The author gets a (usually modest) Advance

The author feels important and “validated” as a writer

The reason for most rejections is that the agent/editor doesn’t think the book is perfect the way it is, and, honestly, they have, literally, hundreds of millions of authors and manuscripts to choose from so they do not work on an imperfect manuscript, no matter how much promise it shows — so the author shouldn’t take rejections personally (which, unfortunately, doesn’t make them any easier to deal with, especially since editors’ reasons for rejection are usually something like “I just didn’t feel it” or “I’m not 200% in love with it” rather than something specific about the quality of the work or the writing).

Smaller niche or literary Houses are usually more welcoming and helpful (in the editing phase of the book) to new or relatively unknown authors than the larger traditional publishers are, so there’s always a chance you could get your book published with one of them

Cons

Being accepted by an agent is not validation that you are a good writer: rather it is an educated assumption that the agent thinks s/he can sell it

If the agent doesn’t sell it in what s/he considers a reasonable amount of time (which varies depending on the agent’s age, number of children, place in career, place in Agency, personal life, etc.), you will be unceremoniously dropped, despite any previous promises that he’s “committed to you for life and wants to represent your career, not just one book” (oy, vey, if I had a few dollars for every time I’ve heard that…)

If you do get a sale and you’re a relatively unknown author (which is most of us, no matter how many books we’ve already published), then your Agent gets 10-20% of the Advance — before it gets to you

Smaller niche or literary Houses are more likely to accept you but because of their size, they usually don’t have any money for Advances

The Advance gets paid in multiple installments: often two. The first 1/2 is usually paid 3-4 months after the sale (it takes time to gets those contracts through the appropriate channels), and the second 1/2 when the book is published (if you have a good agent, that will be paid no longer than 1 year after sale, whether or not book is published, which also gives publisher an incentive not to sit on your book for years)

I have heard of Advances being broken up into 4 or more payments, over a period of 2-3 years, at the minimum (If you’re Stephen King, getting $50M for your next three books, and the installments are divided into 6ths: 1st/6th when first manuscript delivered, 2nd/6th when first book published, 3rd/6th when 2nd manuscript delivered, 4th/6th when 2nd book published, etc., then this isn’t a bad deal, but not all of us are Stephen King, and even Stephen King complains that his NY publishers steal royalties from him…)

In addition to the 10-20% you have to pay to the Agent, you have to pay Federal, State, Local, and Social Security Self-Employment taxes on the total amount of the Advance, even though your Agent takes a significant percentage of it. (When my first novel was sold 20 years ago, I netted about 40¢ on every dollar I got in the Advance. I’m not saying I wasn’t happy, just extremely disappointed. I’d known about the Agent’s percentage of the Advance because that’s in the contract with the Agent, but I never even thought about the amount of taxes I’d have to pay, and, at that time, didn’t even know about Social Security Self-Employment taxes, which, like other taxes, are a percentage, not a fixed dollar amount.)

A sale to an editor at a publishing House is not validation that you have written a good book or that you are a good writer, no matter how many times you get told that — on the phone or in person

If an editor buys your book, it means the editor believes that the House can make enough money to “earn out” the Advance (i.e., make back the Advance money that it gives you, which is why most Advances are so small) and that the editor believes you will have enough sales to earn out that Advance

The editor decides, by contract, the title of your book (so don’t get too attached to it: titles are marketing tools), the cover, the back cover copy (marketing). The author gives up any and all control over all this — over the plot and characters, too, by the way — when he signs the coveted traditional publishing contract

The book better be perfect because most editors don’t do any actual work on the book: that’s not their job. Marketing is.

The author is responsible for the proofreading after every single version of the book that goes through at the publisher’s: House editing (to make sure they do things like spell “gray” with an a rather than “grey” with an e: don’t even try to argue with NY publishers on this one: they won’t give in), Design editing, Production editing, Foreign language editing (if you have any foreign words in your manuscript), Continuity editing (which ensures that if it’s snowing in the beginning of a scene, it’s not summer by the end of it; trust me: these editors miss a lot of that stuff, so you’ll have to do the final continuity pass yourself).

You’ll proofread your manuscript so many times that you’ll hate it by the time it’s ready to go to the printer, you’ll wonder why you ever wrote a book in the first place. Any and all mistakes found in the final book are there forever (the House will not go back to the Printers for typos or even serious mistakes, like their accidentally omitting a chapter or two)

The author has no say on the cover chosen. If you’re lucky, the editor will show it to you before the book is finished and ready to go to the printer. If not, you’ll be surprised (pleasantly, one hopes)

The author has absolutely no say over the title, though sometimes the editor will pretend to ask you if you “approve”. (If the author says “no”, the editor will call the agent, who’ll call the author, and tell him that it is a better title, so accept it. So don’t get too attached to your title: many famous authors report always having thought of their published books under the title they wrote it, rather than under the title it was eventually published, Erica Jong, among them.)

Once the author’s book goes to the printer, don’t expect the editor to remember your name. S/he has other authors/books to deal with.

If you’re lucky, the publisher will send out copies of your book to reviewers. You will not know whether this happens, or to which publications the book is sent. There is a reason for this: publicists handle it, and publicists cannot, under any circumstances, check to see if a book is going to be reviewed. To do so automatically and permanently pulls the book from the publication’s “To Be Reviewed” list, so publicists do not ask. If your book is reviewed, your editor will receive a copy of the completed review by fax or email about a week-10 days before the review is to be published. The editor will forward it to you if it’s good; to your agent if it’s bad, so the agent can break the bad news to you.

The agent acts as the buffer between an author and his editor, so you will rarely talk to your editor. You will never be able to complain about anything to your editor: you complain to your agent, who puts it in “politically acceptable traditional publishing language” before deciding to pass it on to the editor, if the agent deems it important enough to pass on. If not, at least you got to vent to your agent.

99% of authors get no money or assistance from the publisher for promotion or publicity. If the House thinks your book might have a better than average chance of good sales, then you might be asked to pay for your own publicity or book tour if you live in a relatively big city. Most authors are not considered important enough to do book tours, and that’s why they don’t.

You will be responsible for all your own publicity and promotion, so you might as well get comfortable with Social Media, since that is where most authors connect with their readers and make sales.

Authors must usually have several titles in print before they show any significant sales. One book just won’t make you rich, so don’t expect it to. Once you’ve published your book, you have to work on its marketing & promotion while writing/editing/revising/publishing your next. (This is the same whether you are traditionally or Indie published.)

You have to make a website, do a blog, get on FaceBook, Twitter, Goodreads, etc since the publishing House doesn’t have time to do that for any author except the bestsellers, who usually have publicists or managers anyway.

As a traditionally published author, you lose control over every single aspect of your book, including plot, characters, title, cover, marketing. You cannot even reveal the cover of your book (on your blog or FaceBook page, for example) unless the publisher allows it (as Amanda Hocking discovered when her new series was accepted for publication for NY: Hocking was used to revealing her covers as soon as she got them done and liked them; her “chafing” under the publisher’s rules was obvious in her blog — but, hey, that’s part of why she got her $5M Advance)

If a book does not earn out its Advance, it could be taken out-of-print (OP) in as little as 6 months. If it looks like it may earn out, the book may stay in print a year or so. Even if it earns out its Advance early and substantially, the book could still be taken OP within a year or two, for no discernible reason whatsoever. Your editor will not have the decency to tell you this: s/he will tell your Agent, who will tell you. That’s how it works in this business.

Once a book is OP, the book is “dead” in NY jargon. Publishers don’t want it because they assume that it didn’t earn out its Advance, even if you have proof that it did. Agents don’t want to represent it because they know that the publishers won’t be interested in buying it. So the book is dead. In the past, the authors were just, frankly, screwed when this happened. Now they can put the OP books back into the market themselves thanks to ebooks and POD printing.

My first novel, The Kommandant’s Mistress, earned out its Advance 6 months before it was published. It got literally hundreds of good reviews — no bad or even mediocre ones except for the person who thought that novels about the Holocaust should not be written, only non-fiction, but that was his only complaint about that book — was shortlisted for several prestigious prizes, and then won several very prestigious national awards and prizes.

HarperCollins, who’d reserved the option to have the Trade Paper rights, put the book in its HarperPerennial line, which my agent happily assured me meant that the book was now considered a back-list title — one that continues to sell slowly but steadily over the years and so always remains in print — and offered me her hearty congratulations. The book was taken OP less than a year and a half later. No reason was given. When I remarked, to my agent, that Harper obviously didn’t know the definition of “perennial,” she laughed; I didn’t.

The only reason a new agent got the book back into print — without any Advance whatsoever — was because Patrick Stewart, of Star Trek: The Next Generation Captain Jean-Luc Picard fame, optioned it for film to play the male protagonist himself, and received funding for it. When my agent sold my second novel, she convinced the new publisher to put The Kommandant’s Mistress back into print by giving it to them for free: the publisher, of course, was hoping that the film would be made and that he would get rich from the associated movie-book tie-in sales (the cover would’ve then featured the stars of the film, including Patrick Stewart). As soon as the film was dropped (Hollywood politics) and the option released, the 2nd publisher took the novel OP.

An author earns anywhere from 3-10% of the cover price of each book sold. The bookstores earn 35-55%, the Distributors (like Ingram & Amazon) earn 15-20%, the printing costs are subtracted from any remaining monies, the publishing House gets the rest. Of the remainder, the House is supposed to send the author’s percentage to his Agent; if that happens, the Agent will take his 10-20% before forwarding any remaining monies to the Author. (Don’t expect any money beyond the Advance: even Stephen King claims he doesn’t earn any royalties & has threatened to audit his publishers, at the very least. Whether he actually did it, I don’t know: they may have just given him a larger Advance for his next books, to quiet him down.)

Neither the agent nor the author has any direct access to the sales records of his book, though NY contracts usually stipulate that the author may audit the publishers’ books. Agents discourage this, however, as authors who insist on doing it get blacklisted in the industry (no future sales), and the authors have to pay for the very expensive audit if the publisher’s sales figures are shown to be correct (you can guess how many times an author’s won an audit)

Indie Publishing

Cons

The author has to pay for everything: cover, editing, proofreading (if he’s not good enough to do it himself)

The author has to learn marketing books fast and well (faster than if accepted by a NY House, and as well as their professional publicists) if he expects any sales whatsoever, and marketing is where most authors fail miserably, with poor titles, worse covers, bad/boring book descriptions (which include the all important Pitch)

The author is solely responsible for the quality of the finished product, i.e., the book — an area where NY publishing Houses excel — and readers/reviewers are quick to complain if the product does not meet NY standards

The author must pay to produce a high quality product if he cannot put it out himself (NY Houses pay for this, so Indie authors must assume these costs)

The author gets no Advance monies

The author gets no validation (really, just an expectation) that his book will sell from someone experienced in the book business, i.e., an Agent or Editor at a traditional publishing House

Bookstores like Barnes & Noble do not recognize the term Indie Published Author. Anyone not traditionally published by a NY House is self-published, according to Barnes & Noble, and their stores do not order or stock books of self-published authors. Period.

Previously traditionally published authors who’ve put their OP books back in print through Ingram’s Lightning Source or Amazon’s Create Space may be considered for stocking at their local B&N, but must provide proof that the book will probably sell — e.g., good reviews, or royalty statements with sales figures — but even if the local Events Manager/Coordinator approves, B&N’s NY Corporate office has to approve, which is not likely to happen, not even for critically acclaimed, award-winning authors like me: I’ve already tried.

Libraries and Academic Institutions will not order books of self-published authors: they also do not recognize term Indie

Authors are unlikely to get any reviews from prestigious newspapers or publications like The New York Times Book Review because they don’t have access to the proper submission channels. In any event, these publications require 6-9 months lead time for considering books to review before the publication date, and most authors are not wiling to get their book into final form, then wait 6-9 months in the (mostly unrequited) hopes of a review, before releasing book to public

Authors must usually have several titles in print before they show any significant sales. One book just won’t make you rich, so don’t expect it to. Once you’ve published your book, you have to work on its marketing & promotion while writing/editing/revising/publishing your next. (This is the same whether you are traditionally or Indie published.)

Pros

You retain all control over all aspects of your book, from cover to title, from sales reports to amount of royalties earned

You determine your Royalty Percentage (35-70% for ebooks on Amazon, for example, and approximately 60% of the cover price for Trade Paper books

You determine the format: ebook, Trade Paper, Hardcover, audiobook

You decide when, if, and whether your book ever goes out of print (OP)

If you do take your book OP, you can always revise it, and put it back into print without hiring an agent to try to sell it to another publisher

Other Indie authors are usually relatively nice about helping each other out (though there are some pretty selfish ones who even join organizations designed to help out Indie authors, then do nothing but promote their own books)

It’s easier to make sales by connecting directly with your readers on Social Media

The piece-of-the-selling-pie is bigger than it is in NY with traditional publishing, though you probably have to work harder to get your piece

You have access to all your own sales reports, without auditing anybody or getting blacklisted in the industry for questioning/auditing your own royalty reports as you do in traditional publishing

Overall, having been in the traditional NY publishing arena for over 30 years, and in the Indie publishing market for the last 3, I would choose Indie publishing any day over traditional publishing. But then, I’m good with covers (I minored in Art History), titles, back cover copy, and other marketing, having taught creative writing on the University level for over 30 years, having been a visiting artist/author at writing conferences all over the country for the past 20 years, and having been a really quick study on the marketing aspect once my first novel got published.

(For example, my original title, The Kommandant, was changed to The Kommandant’s Mistress, after a “persistent rumor in the camps about the Jewish inmate with whom the Nazi Kommandant was obsessed” and modeled after John Fowle’s famous The French Lieutenant’s Woman. Even I knew that The Kommandant’s Mistress was a better title than my original, learned how to make titles with more Urgency & market appeal, and have never had a title changed since, on any of my traditionally published books).

Also, after retiring from University, I opened my own traditional publishing House to help other literary authors — the only market harder to break into than literary fiction is poetry, and no agents handle poetry collections — so I gained a lot of experience from the publishing & marketing side before the Indie/ebook markets were ever even available to previously traditionally published OP authors like me.

(In case you’re wondering, even my House’s contract gives the publisher all control over the title, cover, back cover description, etc., though I do help my authors with minor editing to improve the Urgency, Voice, POV, etc. It’s rare that an author has a marketable title from the beginning, though sometimes it takes only minor tweaking to make it work, and if it doesn’t work at all, I always get the new title from something inside the book itself. And as for covers, no author has ever come up with a good cover on his own, though a couple hired professional artists or photographers after I couldn’t find a cover and told them what I was looking for. Then I just tweaked the cover. But the author didn’t come up with the original concept, I can assure you. Most authors are just not experienced in the visual arts: they’re wordsmiths.)

And just to show you how my covers of my own Indie published OP books stack up to the covers done by NY Houses, here are the covers for the first and second editions of The Kommandant’s Mistress.

(HarperCollins 1st edition cover, under the name “Sherri” because the editor said my real name wouldn’t fit on the cover of the book, 1993 & 1994)

(Arcade’s cover for the 2nd edition, also under “Sherri” so they “wouldn’t lose the name recognition” of reviews/prizes, 2000)

And my own, Indie-published cover for the novel, now re-issued under my real name, in a Revised & Expanded, 20th Anniversary Edition (you can let me know, in Comments, which cover you like better: so far, the votes are all for my Indie cover). And yes, the license for that phot0graph cost me quite a bit of money: I had to save for months to get it. I do the design (title/author name placement over photograph or other cover art) for all my House’s covers myself.

The only reason I would ever return to traditional publishing would be if someone extremely famous and well-financed optioned one of my new books for film because that would give me a greater chance to get a large Advance — something I’ve never gotten. Even then, the Advance would have to be large enough for me to give up all control and access to my sales figures (again). Since I’ve already been down all those roads, I simply don’t see that happening.

Still, if a traditional publisher came to me with an offer of $5M, as they did with Amanda Hocking, I’m certain it wouldn’t take too much persuasion to give NY one book…

Newton Love’s Books

My Most Fave Authors, Writers, and Bloggers & a Podcast

Rachel in the OC
by CSA survivor and advocate Rachel Thompson, on surviving, preventing, and spreading the word about Childhood Sexual Abuse

Migraine Mantras
articles on migraine, chronic pain, chronic illness, holistic health, alternative medicine, exercise, mindfulness, and meditation, all written by people who live with invisible illness and who advocate for themselves and others

Lydia Schoch
one of the best blogs with an amazing variety of topics, from the Zen of medical tests to her weekly Suggestion Saturdays and Saturday Seven, which feature fascinating blogs and websites

The Bloggess
by bestselling author Jenny Lawson, on depression, marriage, lawn-gerbils, and other random absurdities of life

BrainPickings
one of the most diligently researched blogs I've ever found, written by Maria Popova, it covers writers, artists, books, and all things wonderfully intellectual and artistic

Historical, People & Fiction

Mimi Matthews
a marvelous blog on all things Victorian, from clothes and pets to personalities and other authors who write books and blogs on the same time period

A Writer's Perspectiveby April Munday, with well-researched posts on all things Medieval, from the weight of armor and the mobility of the knights wearing it to what peasants really ate and how they got betrothed and married

Barking Up The Wrong Treeby Eric Barker, with researched posts on living your life better with the principles of meditation, Stoicism, and mindfulness, and more

Raptitudeby David Cain, with an emphasis on meditation, mindfulness, and living life more fully

Elaine Mansfield
with a tagline "Grief is a Sacred Journey," this blog poignantly discusses grieving, mindfulness, Buddhism, and beginning life again after tragedy makes you think it's ended

Writing, Publishing, Marketing

Bad Redhead Media
also run by Rachel Thompson, with an emphasis on helping writers and other small business owners master social media

Red Pen of Doom
by speechwriter and author Guy Bergstrom, who posts on everything writing, to help screenwriters, novelists, and journalists, along with great Red-Pen-skewering of books and videos, as well as frequent instructions on how to survive an apocalypse

Anne R Allen
by authors Anne R. Allen and Ruth Harris, with an emphasis on posts to help writers with everything from writing the first draft to revising, from self-publishing and marketing to social media and handling reviews

Writing and Wellness
by Colleen M. Story, and frequently featuring guest posts by authors, this blog covers everything concerning writers and their health, psychological and physical, from easing back pain to increasing creativity

A Writer's Ramblings
by Victoria Griffin, this blog covers everything writing, from first drafts and revisions to editing

Terry Tyler
by an author for other authors and writers, with an emphasis on posts to help writers with everything from writing, revising, and social media

Sheri McInnis
by a traditionally and Indie published author who is also a book coach, with posts on everything for writers, from agents to addiction

My Most Fave Podcast, by a Great Writer (Drew) & Sleep-Inducing Performer (Scooter)

Sleep With Me Podcast
written by Drew Ackerman, and performed by Drew as "Dearest Scooter," this brilliant and popular podcast knocks out insomnia by lulling you to sleep with meandering introductions and ingeniously "boring" stories. Drew and Scooter also do the Game of Drones and Sleep to Strange podcasts

Migraine Mantras

Migraine Mantras on Twitter

Copyright and All That Jazz

Copyright 2012-2018 by Alexandria Constantinova Szeman. All rights reserved. No content may be copied, excerpted, or distributed without express written consent of the author and publisher, and full copyright credit to the author. Please, don’t support the piracy of Intellectual Property.